, 1887-12-25
SOME EXPLODED supERsTlrloNs.

superstitions of sailors. But ! must con-
fess that | was no less amused than in
terested. All the old time supcrstitions
and beliefs which nave chiefly owed their
existence to the exaggeration of the poets
were resurrected, so to speak, and laid to
the charge of the sailor of the present
day. Nothing could be more absurd.
The sailor of today is no more supersti-
tiOus than the average landsman, and as
n rule a great deal more practical and
matter-of-fact. Go on board ship and
study the rigging and fitting. There is
not a rope rove in n block or n plank laid
without the most precise calculation and
forethought. a sailor never sits down to
do n job, from making a beckett for a
bucket TO splicing an eight stranded wire
rope, without first having worked the
whole thing out in his mind. There's
but one way of doing things you'll near
the old bo'sun say, n that is the right
way
''The fellow that said in that article
that a sailor won't allow an albatross TO
be killed for fear of i'll luck, had evidently
never rounded the Horn. Why, when |
went to sea first / was full of that Rhine
of the Ancient Mariner When we
ncarcd Staten Island | looked with all my
'NN5 lilt ibhu. w iltl bIlt tNl tllf.lT
sailing majestically along without Tapping
its large wings once in half an hour, |
felt n chill of reverential awe and stood
with my mouth wide open, n whole pan
Drama of Gustave Dore's Illustrations of
the poem fitting through my mind.
"'What are We dom ther, suddenly
yelled the mate. Is that maxim scnnit?
If I've to speak to We & I'll make We
straddle that spanker boom for a week.
Here, jump down into my room an get
my fishin' lines; dye hear? Skip And
the mates heavy sea boot emphasized his
words. When / returned to the deck
with the lines, Here says he, git aft
there, you lazy lubber, and catch an
albatross. | promised that wife of mine
that I'd bring her an cider down pilIer
this v'y'ge.'
"'Catch an albatrossl' l echoed, para
lyzed with terror at the thought.
d" If ye don't skip an hold yer jaw
I'll Here, give me that, you BOBBY.
And the mate took the line from mo and
led me aft to show me how to catch al
batross. This is a very simple operation.
An ordinary strong fishing line is pro-
cured and n strong hook attached to the
end imbedded in a piece of tempting fat
pork. 1t is paid out astern, a piece of
cork keeping the line afloat. No sooner
does the albatross perceive the delicious
morsel han he makes n downward
swoop. Why, you never saw n pretticr
sight than the eliptical sweep the huge
birds make, their wings stretched out as
stiff as a board. Never a flap, sir. One
wing just dashes up the water near the
bobbing pork and then the bird wheels
around again and drops in the water. In
n moment the bait is swallowed and then
the fight begins. l nave seen -four mon
find it a hard job to haul in an albatross,
for it extends its wings and catches The
wind; and sometimes they won't rise,
but stretch out their wings and hole
water, and then something goes, the hook
or the line, maybe.
"But they generally get the big birds
aboard. They kill them there and skin
them. The wings they use for orna-
monts, and the heads are hung over tho
stern and allowed TO drag in the water,
which soon leaves the skull as clean rs u
whistle. The softer feathers are used to
make pillows or beds, but the skins make
beautiful fur cloaks. You see, after
plucking the feathers out n lovely down
remains on the skin which looks, for all
the world, like white fur. Why, sir, |
have at home two of the prettiest curly
headed little rogucs of girls you ever saw,
II they each have n coat of albatross
fur. Thry're the envy of every one in
that quiet little country town in the east.
There isn't much superstition about
that, il there? Why, I've caught rs
many rs twenty albatrosses on n voya-2.
OF course, there are many captains who
will not allow them to be caught for hui
manity's sake. Others, again, like to
catch them, and attach n piece of tin or
wood, with the name of the vessel and
the latitude and longitude on it, to the
leg, then let them go.
"Then, again, i'll the article referred
to, the sea gull is spoken of as a weather
prophet. Now, l don't see why what is
really true should he ca&ed n sailors SUI
perstition.' There never was anything
truer than the English notion that these
birds take to the and before n southeast
or southwest wind sets in. These winds
always bring rain TO those coasts, and
long before they break the sky is overcast
and the air moist. 1t is just such weather
that draws the earthworms from their
holes, and what more delicious dish is
there for Il sea gull than the dainty earth
worm? Why, the fields are covered with
Sti guns dl SuSil llnISS, anu ytk% pultly
natural occurrence is cslled a$ail6f's SUI
perstninn.
another superstition that on my first
voyage | found was exploded among
sailors was the belief that the stormy
petrol never rests, and that its appearance
indicates n coming storm. There is no
doubt they arc remarkably restless little
creatures, but they rest on the water and
plume their feathers the same rs any
other birds. AS TO their appearance in
d~icating n storm I've never given the
thing much notice; but this 1 know, and
that Is, that l have seen them flying
around the ship in the calmest as well as
in the stormicst weather.
mo, sir, the old superstitions don't
affect modern sailors very much. Steam
boats and short passages have done away
with LiIch of the romano of sea life and
with it its superstition. In old times, when
n ship took three years to make a voyage,
the simple hearted sailor would welcome
rs a freak to the monotony the appear
anCc of the sea birds. He could not find
it in his heart TO kill the creatures which
spoke TO him of lam and its associations.
He wanted company, and the birds af-
fordcd it to him, and he gradually came